sustainability

Could Plastic-Eating Mushrooms Solve Humanity’s Plastic Problem?

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via Interesting Engineering

Since the mass production of plastics began in the 1950s, humans have created 9 billion tons of plastic, and this creates a crisis that’s not easy to tackle since plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade. Those used by the people of the ’60s still exist in some form, and with only 9 percent recycled, only 12 percent has been incinerated.

This has lead scientists to search for alternative methods for plastic reduction, and one solution that could aid humanity might be hidden in fungi. Scientists have discovered mushrooms that eat plastic over the years: Some mushroom species have the ability to consume polyurethane, which is one of the main ingredients in plastic products.

Read the full story here: https://interestingengineering.com/could-plastic-eating-mushrooms-solve-humanitys-plastic-problem

British Company That Uses Waste Plastic To Pave Roads Bringing Process To U.S.

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via Forbes

British manufacturer MacRebur has already helped paved thousands of miles of roads in the U.K. with asphalt that contains waste plastic, says CEO Toby McCartney. The company is setting up shop in Florida and has its eye on millions of tons of wasted plastic in the United States.

The company says its process of turning waste plastic into an asphalt additive can help keep plastic out of landfills and incinerators and create stronger streets, all at reduced costs.

Read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2021/02/03/british-company-that-uses-waste-plastic-to-pave-roads-bringing-process-to-us/?sh=4b9fee9d313d

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    California Company Hopes To Pave The World’s Roads With Recycled Plastic

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    via DOGO News

    The invention of plastic has been a double-edged sword for humanity. While the cheap, versatile material has made life convenient, it is virtually indestructible and takes centuries to decompose. Since avoiding plastic is impossible, companies worldwide are coming up with innovative ways to repurpose the millions of tons of polymer waste that end up in our landfills annually. Among the latest is California-based TechniSoil Industrial, which has devised an ingenious way to reuse plastic waste to repave roads.

    Road resurfacing is an expensive undertaking that starts with using special equipment to extract and grind the topmost 3-to-6 inches of asphalt. Since the recycled material is not strong enough to use on its own, half of it is discarded and replaced with fresh hot asphalt. The combined product is mixed with bitumen — a sludge-like petroleum residue that acts as a binding agent — and relaid on the surface. Repaving a single lane mile requires 42 truckloads of new material and hauling out a similar amount of unusable waste.

    Read the full story here: https://www.dogonews.com/2021/1/29/california-company-hopes-to-pave-the-worlds-roads-with-recycled-plastic

    Single-use plastic bag ban begins in Delaware

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    via Delaware State News

    DOVER — Customers in the checkout lines at grocery, retail and convenience stores throughout Delaware should be prepared for a new way of conducting business starting New Year’s Day.

    That’s because consumers and some businesses in Delaware will no longer be able to use or distribute single-use plastic carryout bags at the point of sale.

    Read the full story here: https://delawarestatenews.net/news/single-use-plastic-bag-ban-begins-in-delaware/

    Research Turns Plastic Waste into Biodegradable Silk

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    via Plastics Today

    Solutions to big problems can spring from little things. In research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, a microorganism that digests common petroleum-based plastic waste and yields a biodegradable plastic alternative represents a new solution to an on-going problem.

    With the support of a substantial new National Science Foundation grant of $500,000 for the project, a team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will explore this potentially transformative idea entitled Microbial Upcycling of Petrochemical Polymer Waste into High Value Protein-Based Polymers for a Circular Economy.

    Read the full story here: https://www.plasticstoday.com/materials-research/research-turns-plastic-waste-biodegradable-silk

    New enzyme cocktail digests plastic waste ‘six times faster’

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    via Circular

    The scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme ‘cocktail’ which can digest plastic up to six times faster.

    A second enzyme, found in the same waste dwelling bacterium that lives on a diet of plastic bottles, has been combined with PETase to speed up the breakdown of plastic.

    Read the full story here: https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/new-enzyme-cocktail-digests-plastic-waste-six-times-faster/

    National Science Foundation Awards Grant to Rensselaer Polytechnic for Research into New Plastic

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    via Plastics Today

    With the support of a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, chemical engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, aim to develop a new polymer that can replace polystyrene (PS). While PS is inexpensive and easy to make, it is difficult to break down into its original components for re-use through a process called depolymerization. Founded in 1824, Rensselaer is America’s first technological research university.

    Read the full story here: https://www.plasticstoday.com/materials/national-science-foundation-awards-grant-rensselaer-polytechnic-research-new-plastic/21414866763275

    Polystyrene ball-stick model with 11 countable monomers. PakpongICCH444 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

    COVID-19 Lays Waste to Many US Recycling Programs

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    via Manufacturing Business Technology

    Many items designated as reusable, communal or secondhand have been temporarily barred to minimize person-to-person exposure. This is producing higher volumes of waste.

    Grocers, whether by state decree or on their own, have brought back single-use plastic bags. Even IKEA has suspended use of its signature yellow reusable in-store bags. Plastic industry lobbyists have also pushed to eliminate plastic bag bans altogether, claiming that reusable bags pose a public health risk.

    Read the full story here: https://www.mbtmag.com/home/news/21138099/covid19-lays-waste-to-many-us-recycling-programs

    Landfills emerge as promising battery storage sites to back up renewable energy

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    via WasteDive.com

    Solar panel installations have been one of the fastest-growing types of energy infrastructure in recent years and landfills have become fitting sites due to the sheer amount of land required. Now, for many of the same reasons, energy project developers are looking to landfills for a technology growing even faster than solar: battery storage.

    Storage on landfills is still a novel idea, with closed sites seen as largely the most suitable, and only a few examples of these projects exist. But solar on landfills was in a similar position just a few years ago, Tim Ryan, director at New York-based developer BQ Energy, told Waste Dive. BQ Energy focuses specifically on brownfield sites and has built over a dozen solar or wind projects since 2012, but only recently began construction on its first storage venture. Solar on landfills “may seem routine now, but it wasn’t when we started,” Ryan said.

    Read the full story here: https://www.wastedive.com/news/landfills-promising-sites-battery-storage-solar-renewable-energy/577898/

    Michigan Fashion Company Reduces Plastic Waste to Protect Great Lakes

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    via Fox47news.com

    LANSING, Mich. — A University of Michigan student is doing what he can to protect the coastlines and Great Lakes of Michigan.

    Jackson Riegler, 19, started his company Oshki when he was just 17-years-old. Riegler had a mission to reduce plastic by re-purposing it to make clothes.

    He uses plastic waste found on the shores of the Great Lakes to create these unique sustainable clothing items. Riegler has collected 120 pounds of plastic so far.

    Read the full story here: https://www.fox47news.com/news/local-news/mi-fashion-company-reduces-plastic-waste-to-protect-great-lakes